Surprise winner at AMA Pro Flat Track event at Calistoga

In the first flat track motorcycle race on Calistoga Speedway’s half-mile dirt oval in over 30 years, it was an infiltrator from the pavement ranks that swept top honors in the AMA Pro K&N Filters Grand National Championship Twins race. Stevie Bonsey willed his Harley-Davidson to the front over established stars Chris Carr, reigning champion Jared Mees and current points leader Joe Kopp to take a 1.1-second win in the 25-lap main.
It was seven-time champion Carr who jumped to the early lead before Sammy Halbert slipped past on lap 5. Bonsey demoted Carr to third on lap 13 then took the lead for good four laps later. Jake Johnson stormed through to take the final podium spot behind Halbert at the end.

Points leader Kopp had an up and down night – literally. He was quick qualifier, then while running second in his heat race a swing arm bolt sheared and he crashed hard in turn 2. Kopp had to bring out his spare bike and race in the semi to make the main. He started from the back row but sliced through the field for the win.

In the main Kopp finished seventh, minimizing the damage to his points lead. He stands at 166 points while Johnson cut the lead to six, one point ahead of Halbert.

Bonsey, a Salinas native and protege of world champion Kenny Roberts Sr., raced in the 125cc category of MotoGP for 2007 and 2008 as a teen with four top-ten finishes in ’08. This year he ran three AMA Daytona SportBike events before switching back to his first love: dirt. In his three previous starts in Flat Track this year, Bonsey had finished no better than 10th.

In the Pro Singles main, reigning champion Brad Baker and Jeffrey Carver battled for the win throughout. However proceedings were delayed for over half an hour by two red flags for separate accidents. Dalton Bell brought out the first one in a solo incident. On the first corner after the restart Tony Davila had to lay his bike down to keep from knocking over the rider he was next to. His downed bike rebounded off the wall into the middle of the track. Ian Foulds had to run over the bike to avoid Davila.

Foulds and Davila both needed to be airlifted to local hospitals. Foulds was unconscious as he was taken from the track but he was awake and talking the next day.

On the last restart Baker was able to keep Carver behind him, and although the current points leader was able to draw alongside several times, second spot was all he could get out of the night. Mike Avila took the final podium spot.

Although the red flags added a somber and sobering note to the night, it was a triumphant return for flat track racing, absent in Northern California since the demise of the Sacramento Mile event in 1999. All grandstand seats were sold out well before the start, with hundreds flowing over into the infield spectator areas.

The spectacle of flat track is different than any other form of motorcycle racing. Riders throw their bikes into the turns at over 100 mph, letting their steel-reinforced boots graze the ground for balance. After the bikes take a set in the middle of the corner, riders gyrate around on their seats to get the most traction to the rear wheel. Drafting passes start on the straights and are decided in the corners, both riders side by side with left legs out. Modern day gladiators with fistfuls of horsepower, they put on a show that always delivers.